


The Incident

by Dopple_Girl



Series: Sander Sides Royalty AU [3]
Category: Sander Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: But this is going to get deep, Deceit is a major player, Its angst so watch out, I’ve hinted at a thing like this prior, Royalty AU, Theyre brothers so don’t get any ideas, and hurt so so bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 03:04:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14487435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dopple_Girl/pseuds/Dopple_Girl
Summary: With Roman alongside him, Virgil is tasked with vanquishing a threat to the kingdom. Why it’s his job he has no idea. But now Virgil’s here facing demons he’s not ready to acknowledge and a choice that he can’t make





	The Incident

**Author's Note:**

> Fic I wrote for a competition on Tumblr. While I didn’t win, and quite frankly didn’t expect to, that’s just the reason that I haven’t posted this yet because I didn’t want to do anything with it until after it was over. So here, finally, is the next part of the series. 
> 
> And I apologize in advance. Just remember this comes first. Okay? IT COMES FIRST!!

The two of them stood outside the cave. Why someone would still reside in a cave of all places in the modern day confused Virgil. But here was, forced to confront whatever laid inside. They didn’t even know what it was that they were looking for, just that it was a threat. A threat that had to be eliminated or it could threaten the integrity of the kingdom. Still didn’t justify any reason why they were here, of all people. 

“You think it’s the dragon witch?” Roman asked, still frozen in his spot from where they had arrived moments before. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword. Virgil could tell he was tense. “I would be a lot less nervous if it was the dragon witch.”

“You think everything is the dragon witch. I don’t think it’s the dragon witch.” Virgil rolled his eyes, finally finding energy to move his feet. He stepped closer to the mouth of the cave. 

“Wait! We need light before going in there.” Roman searched the beach around him; Virgil was clueless as to what he was looking for. “Did you see any dry branches on the trail down here we can use your lighter to ignite?”

“Not really. But I think my flashlight will be enough.” Virgil waved the torch in front of him, causing a pout to form on Roman’s face. The prince marched up to stand even with Virgil. 

“I hate you so much.” He mumbled as he passed. 

“The feeling’s mutual, your royal pain-in-my-ass.” Virgil mocked, making sure to add the little bow as always. 

He stayed behind Roman as the two entered the cave, making sure his light illuminated the darkness ahead of them. The two lost track of how deep they were going, the light behind them fading ever so slowly until it was no more. Virgil felt like his ears wanted to pop and that were multiple pairs of eyes watching his every move. Even Roman stood alert at all times, his sword now drawn and at the ready. No words needed to be spoken to know that each man was as scared as his brother. 

“Any ideas, Creativity?” Virgil asked, his voice clearly on edge. Roman would have liked to speak, but a huge rumbling echoed through the cavern. The two quickly found themselves back to back, looking around for the source of the sound.

“None that you’d wouldn’t shoot down immediately, Anxiety. Also, am I correct to assume that that wasn’t just your stomach just then?” Virgil nodded, hopping the other felt his movements. His voice felt too hoarse to speak currently. Another rumbling sounded, and tiny rocks rained down in front of Virgil. It was these pebbles that caused him to look up.

“Above us.” He pointed up, and Roman followed his gaze to see what had Virgil even more worried. Huge cracks snaked across the ceiling like lightning bolts. And each tenadril threatened to knock loose one of the many stalactites that dangled from the ceiling by a thread. 

“On my Count, we run. One …” Roman started, but one more crack resounded above them, and then it was pure chaos. Stalactites started falling in rapid succession around them, and it wasn’t long before the one they stood directly under feel soon after.

“Three!” Virgil shouted, pushing Roman out of the way of the falling debris. Following Newton’s Third Law, he propelled himself in the opposite directing in a pile of dirt and rocks. Instinctively he curled into the fetal position, covering his ears from all the sounds of crashing and crumbling. Eyes squeezed tight, he tried to focus on his breathing in order to avoid a panic or anxiety attack. They wouldn’t help anything. 

When the calm was reinstated, Virgil rose to assess his situation. Large jutting pieces of rock separated him from the rest of the cave. The ceiling was completely flat now, a new layer visible from the cracks that were now permanent installations above his head. He glanced around him. Fallen stalactites also surrounded him on all sides in a nearly perfect circle. It didn’t seem natural; it almost seemed as if it was purposefully caused to be that way.

“Virgil?” A weak voice called out from the other side of the divide. 

“Roman!” He called back, rushing to the edge to project his voice and to hear his brother’s. “Are you Okay?”

“For the time being. Just minor scrapes and such. You?”

“Fine. Nothing serious. Listen, we have a figure a way to get back together. Are there any cracks you can see in this … this wall that I could crawl through or something?” Virgil ran his hands along the smooth stone, finding nothing but the tiniest of holes that his finger could barely fit through. 

“Why did you push me aside?” Roman asked, making Virgil hesitate in his search. 

“I don’t know. Instinct or something. Look, let’s not focus on that right now.”

“But I’m focusing on it now.” Roman demanded, his voice sounding much more confident than it had minutes prior. “You could have tackled me. You could have pulled me away. But you instead pushed me away and went in the direction. There was a purpose behind it. And one little shove couldn’t have sent you that far away.”

“I didn’t know, you have to believe me!” 

The tone was his, but the words were not. Virgil’s lips were open yet a single syllable had yet to be uttered. He didn’t want to glance over his shoulder, but he did. He was simply standing there, the same as Virgil remembered. The snarky expression, the over flamboyant outfit, the slit eye surrounded by green scales like the snake he was. He looked so confident and smug, just like when Virgil left. He wanted to punch that creature so hard in the face. 

“Deceit.” He said, his voice only laced with anger. He turned away from Roman’s questions being shouted through the rocks. His focus now was strictly on this demon from his past. “Proud of what you’ve done?”

“Not at all.” He replied, taking a few steps closer to Virgil. The latter did not move but rather focused on his breathing. “Although, I don’t regret how … you turned out.” Deceit was not close enough to touch Virgil, but the latter still used his magic to propel him back as far as possible. 

“I am nothing like them, and I’m nothing like you. They are my family. They care about me.”

“Like they weren’t forced to.” Deceit countered as he rose, wiping his clothes of any loose pebbles. “They care about you, don’t they?”

“I mean everything to them! I’m not done puppet like you used to treat me!!” Virgil felt his anger rise, so much that he knew his eyes were changing into that fiery purple. Deceit chuckled, removing the gloves from his hands and placing them in his pockets. 

“Like you know the whole story.” He said as he shot a ball of yellow magic. Virgil deflected it with a quickly conjured shield. He was not usually a fighter, but now he had to take action. Deceit was a threat: to him, to Roman, to the whole kingdom. So Virgil fought. Magic flew past his face but that did nothing to deter the determination in his eyes with every step. And soon the two of them were rolling on the ground, as Virgil had taken the first chance to tackle them to the ground. He was always better at hand to hand combat anyways. Hits were traded on both sides. 

“What the heckity heck?” Roman asked upon seeing the sight. Virgil remained on top of Deceit, but the other took the first’s moment of distraction to push him off. There was a hole, barely big enough for a person behind Roman that he probably came through. Both Virgil and Deceit rose, eyes still trained on each other. “Five nipples and one peck?”

“He’s Deceit!” They both exclaimed, pointing at each other. Virgil cursed at himself internally. Of course Deceit would disguise himself as Virgil. Now he just to prove to Roman he was the actual Virgil. 

“Don’t listen to him.” Deceit urged, the words so clearly laced with venom. It took all of Virgil’s restraint not to scream. 

“I’m Virgil” Virgil said. “He’s the liar.”

“SHUT UP!!” Roman yelled, effectively silencing both men. “I need to concentrate on this.” He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing. Virgil remained still, fingers remaining crossed behind his back. He had faith in Roman; Deceit not as much. And his suspicions were confirmed not even moments later when Roman opened his eyes and there was a golden shine to it. 

“I don’t want to fight you.” Virgil stated as Roman approached. His hands rose into a defensive position, the dagger he always carried with him falling out of his sleeve. He didn’t exactly know how the others would react to his magic since it was .. you know, illegal. “You’re Making A Mistake!”

“I’ve already made up my mind.” Roman’s tone sounded scripted in nature as if they weren’t his own. Which they weren’t. Roman rose his sword and swung it down, a move Virgil easily sidestepped. The former still had a determined look on his face. 

“I’m Not The Bad Guy This Time!” Virgil pleaded as he avoided another blow. Dodge and weave, don’t strike back. 

“I Don’t Care!”

“ROMAN!!” Roman blinked, almost seeing to come to his senses. Virgil let his guard down, and that’s all it took for the golden gleam to return. Roman grabbed Virgil’s neck, pushing him back against one of the stalactites. The latter clawed at his brothers arm as his vision began to blur. Then it was clear as a new sensation became dominant: pain. Virgil looked down to see Roman’s sword driven straight through his stomach. His eyes remained wide as Roman pulled it back out, red stained the silver blade. 

“Traitor.” Roman spat, letting go of Virgil and letting him collapse on the floor as the blood began to pool. His hands went to the gash, trying to delay the inevitable death by blood loss. Virgil looked up from his own wounds. 

He could see the strings. See the gold and black strings that connected to all of Roman’s joints. His wrists, ankles, knees, elbows. Deceit stood by his side, a gloved hand shushing Virgil as the slimy boy took Anxiety’s image upon himself. He could also see the all too familiar strings tied to his fingers, showing him in control of the ones attached to Roman. 

“You okay?” He asked, faking every tone of his voice. Virgil couldn’t look anymore, the pain becoming too overwhelming. He curled up into the fetal position as colors swarmed the edges of his vision. But the words of the others still reached his ears as his dying form was forced to hear. That probably hurt most of all. 

“I would ask the same for you.” Roman said, unaware he was speaking to the real traitor. “I think Patton should patch you up when we get back.”

“I’m fine.”

“I insist. At least let him look at you.”

‘Virgil’ sighed. “Fine. Can we just … go home? I have an unsettling feeling about his place.”

“Of course.” The silence took over Virgil once more as the sound of retreating footsteps faded away. He finally let a scream escape his mouth from the hurt: emotional and physical. And with that, the world around him turned to black.


End file.
